First Big Snowstorm of the Year

Napping Boys

The other day when Joshua and I came back to the house after a fun lunch date (Indian food - yum!)while my father was babysitting James and Alma, we found my father asleep on the couch with James laying on him. It was super cute -- just the perfect scene of Grandpa and grandson.

Later that day, Joshua expresses jealousy about my father's nap with James. We have always been rather diligent about making the kids sleep in their cribs for naps so that they wouldn't become dependent on sleeping on a warm body. I was slightly surprised -- and also not surprised at all -- to hear Joshua's desire for a nap with his son and encouraged him to ignore the "kids sleep in their cribs" rule whenever he wanted. The next day I found this.....
 

Perfection! 

Jester Hat at the Library

While Joshua and Alma were enjoying some programming at the library today, a photographer from the local paper, the Express-Times, snapped their photo.  How cute!

 

Caption: Alma Chisholm, 2, tries on the jester-style hat she made with her father Joshua Chisholm, both of Bethlehem, at Bethlehem Area Public Library Friday during Crafts Day activity -- the 3rd of "4 Days of Fun." Saturday will be Window Decorating Day inside the library at 11 West Church Street. Express-Times Photo | LISA MASSEY

Caption: Alma Chisholm, 2, tries on the jester-style hat after a few alterations made with her father Joshua Chisholm, both of Bethlehem, at Bethlehem Area Public Library Friday during Crafts Day activity -- the 3rd of "4 Days of Fun." Saturday will be Window Decorating Day inside the library at 11 West Church Street. Express-Times Photo | LISA MASSEY

Weighing In

Alma at 3 year ped visit: 28 lbs, 38.5 inches

Merry Christmas!

The best part of Christmas was having "Auntie Emily" here for two days.  We all adore her and having a visitor made the holiday seem even more special. 

It was also great having my parents pop by on Christmas morning.  I love having them live close by.  For me, their move was the best thing that happened in 2012. 

Happy 1st Birthday, James!

 In the midst of Christmas and Alma feeling very under the weather, we were still able to celebrate James's birthday a bit on the 25th with a cake that Nana baked.  While James nibbled at the cake (mostly the icing) and is officially one year old, we will host a larger 1.5 year old celebration in June when we can introduce him to more extended family members.

In the meantime, here are some updates on our painfully cute little boy:

Walking: He used the walker (which Grandma Chisholm gave to Alma at this age) like a champ for the past few months.  He very quickly figured out how to go around obstacles and would cruise around the first floor of the house at top speeds.  Then, a few weeks ago (on the 16th while Joshua and Alma were in D.C. visiting Emily), while I was setting up my new computer, he walked past me.  I was shocked.  He spent the entire evening walking around the house.  Then, for some odd reason, he didn't even walk a step for an entire week.  Until the 23rd, he started walking again and hasn't really gone back to crawling much since.  He loves to walk while holding things like balloons or drum sticks.

Talking: For awhile now, he says "at" for cat and "dis" for this, but recently he has added on "da" for Daddy and something vaguely resembling the words dog and Santa. 

Expressing: James seems to always have his index finger extended as he points at things he likes.  He has spent a lot of time standing in front of our Christmas tree pointing.  So cute!  When especially excited, he blows like he is trying to blow out a candle.  Unfortunately, he was too overwhelmed by his actual birthday candle to blow at it.  When feeling displeased (usually when an item has to be taken away from him), he threatens to bite anything that is close to him.  The list of things he has threatened include the table, his own hand, the floor, our legs and the couch.

Toys: Drumming (on coffee canisters or the xylophone), balloons and assorted balls (playing fetch with himself and catch with us), walking around with a broom or his new stroller, looking at books and pointing at everything on the pages, playing peek-a-boo

Swim lessons: He has only had two lessons so far, but he loves it.  He dips his face in the water and loves splashing.  One funny thing is that he won't kick his feet when put in a swimming position; just sits absolutely still.  Makes me laugh.

Teeth: He has 16 teeth.  All eight in front (four on top, four on the bottom), all four first year molars, and a tooth in between the front teeth and the molars. 

Eating: Still a decent eater .... just not from me any more.  Not sure if it is because he's been under the weather with little colds all the time but he only wants to nurse with me.  All day snack-nursing.  When he joins us at the table, he sits in a booster seat and eats off the table.  It was too impossible to get him to not climb out of the high chair as soon as we put him in, so we gave up and upgraded him to a booster seat.  Plus, it is nice to all be at the table together.

Sleep: While he sleeps 7pm - 7:30 am, he wakes up and nurses briefly twice a night.  He also takes two 1.5 hour naps during the daytime.  These naps do not over lap with Alma's naps, which makes a little house-bound and me a tired mama because I never get a true break during the day.

Music: He LOVES music and will dance to any and everything, including the bread machine's mixing cycle.  He claps not only during songs but at the end of Alma's dancing too.

Diapers: We are still using cloth diapers (Bum Genius brand) and find them convenient, cost effective and comfortable for the little guy.


The number of times that Joshua and I have said to each other about James, "He is just so cute" as we look at him adoringly is innumerable.  He really is sweet and cute and ... just the perfect little man. 

Happy birthday to our little sweetie! 

Christmas Preparations

 While Alma was feeling chipper this week, early Saturday morning we were waken up by her claim that she had "spit up" which was putting it lightly.  So she has spent the weekend sitting on the couch and catching up with cartoons.  Crazy amounts of cartoons. 

 For a kid who usually turns off the television after a half hour because she is bored of it, we knew that she was really under the weather when she sat there all day Saturday and all day Sunday.  Poor kiddo.

 We kept putting off our Santa visit but James and I finally got to see him on Sunday afternoon.  James was very curious about the kind stranger.  This Santa stays at the Christkindle Market in Bethlehem and is the nicest guy around.   Since no other kids were around, he held James for nearly five minutes, chatting with him very pleasantly.  "I'm so happy to see you.  You've been such a good boy. ...."  So sweet.

 Then James and I went to a holiday party where he took ornaments off their tree and walked around the house charming strangers.

The Nutcracker

 Alma enjoyed her first performance of The Nutcracker with Nana.  When the overture music began to play, Alma wiggled in my lap with joy.  But once the curtain rose and the dancers came on the stage, she sat in awe for the entire 1.5 hour performance.

Afterwards we went out to lunch at Jumbars to celebrate Nana's birthday.  It was so great to spend the day with two of my favorite ladies. 

Below is a picture of us before leaving for the performance.

Oh Christmas Tree

Alma is Three!

The week before Alma's birthday, we went down to D.C. as a family to see Joshua's sister, Emily.  My parents came too, so that Joshua and I could have a night on the town to see Emily's performance in Pullman Porter Blues.  The entire production was AMAZING and Emily was jaw-droppingly as always.  I still cannot believe that she can play the harmonica like that!

We also spent an afternoon along The Mall at the Museum of Natural History.  Here's Alma enjoying her parasol which was a birthday gift from her Auntie Em.

During Alma's birthday week, we had a costume birthday play date with some of her close friends.  Aren't they the cutest?!

We also had a family birthday party on the night of Alma's birthday with Kate, Neal and my mother.  Here she is hugging the ballerina doll from Aunt Amy, Uncle David and Cousin Hayden.   

And one last party with a slightly larger group of family members.  Kate and Neal made Alma a cake exactly as she requested: pink with Thomas the Train.  How awesome!

 

Catch up...

While I was working on setting up the blog to allow more photos, my laptop computer completely died, taking with it the last month of photos.  *insert sad face*

The lost photos contain all of Thanksgiving, Alma's birthday celebrations (all four of them) and a number of other random beautiful photos I was excited to share.  Not to say that I don't have 18 billion photos of my children, but it sad to lose any of them.  I've found a few in my email sent box as I regularly send out emails as thank yous and hellos. 

All this being said -- and in light of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday -- it is far from the worst thing to happen.  I treasure my children far more than their photos. 

Now that I have a new computer (a desktop with lots of additional memory for those 18 billion photos), I'll be catch up with updates and photos in the coming weeks. 

Goodbye Miss Rita and Miss Tammy

Alma on her last day at her first pre-school.  Her teachers there were very nice and were so sad to see Alma leave their classroom.

While Daddy's Away...

Some photos I sent Joshua while he was away at a business conference ....

At the park and before bedtime when the kids (and Simon) play in James's room after their bath. 

Milestone: Sliding

Such fun at the park with the kids today. James went down the slide for the first time, we buried each other in leaves, beautiful weather.

MLK Memorial

Alma Quote

"When I grow up, I could be a librarian." Usually it is all ballerina from Alma.

Over-Photo'ed

So this blog has reached its limit with photos.  Ha!  I think that I can sort it out but it has been more trying than I expected. 

If I could show photos, I would show ...
our wonderful Thanksgiving with my parents and brother's family, a great shot of Joshua and Alma before their run in the Lights on the Parkway 5K, how James is standing all the time, Alma catching snow on her tongue for the first snowfall this week, how I cut off nine inches of hair and gave myself rather short bangs, Alma eating a Fruit Loop necklace, James being constantly covered in snot as his first year molars have been coming in one-by-one for the past month, Alma always in a leotard or tutu, Alma hugging her Cinderella doll that she purchased with money she saved in her piggy bank ...
 
But since I cannot show pictures, I'll tell you ...
the kids have started playing together in way that is enjoyable for everyone (not all the time, but more often than not), parenting James is pure joy as he is so happy and easily entertained (I love this age), parenting Miss Independent Alma is both a challenge and the most fun, our neighbor's house sold and, while we will be overly sad to miss the Matchettes, we are excited to meet our new neighbor, we have so many wonderful things coming up this month (fun trips, guests, both of the kids birthdays and the holidays)....

Milestone: First Steps

James's first steps happened with Joshua while Alma and I were seeing Christmas lights downtown with Nana and Grandpa.

Hair Donation

10 inches lighter

Letter to Alma's Teachers

Before Alma starts at the Montessori school, we are encouraged to write a letter to her teachers as an introduction to our daughter.  It was fun and challenging to write -- how do you sum up a child in less than a million pages? -- and I'd like to post it here to remember how we think of our little dumpling at this time in her life.

---

Dear XYZ Montessori Teachers,
We are excited for Alma to be joining your class. We appreciate having the chance to share about our daughter and look forward to hearing from you as the school year progresses.

This year, we would love to see Alma fall in love with the Montessori classroom and all of the potential it contains. Since her intake meeting, she has been anxious to return and explore so we have no doubt that she will be a focused and ambitious learner. We believe that not only will she love the materials and the other kids but also the structure and rules of the Montessori classroom. We hope that she will share these ideas with us so that we can continue to incorporate Montessori principles into our home life.

Alma loves books – looking at the pictures by herself, being read to, talking and reenacting the stories that she has read in books, anything. Currently, she is into fairy tales, mostly about princesses. She loves Cinderella. But she also loves Angelina Ballerina and anything having to do with dancing. She has an amazing attention span. We have not found the point in which she tires of being read stories.

While more of a watcher, Alma is happy to jump fully into play once she is comfortable. When faced with a new environment, she often doesn’t want a lot of attention and may hide her face in her hands. Books are the best in-road to a relationship with her. Once comfortable, she loves to laugh at jokes (i.e. silly words) and often changes the lyrics to songs to fit whatever is happening around her. She seems to be equally adept at following and leading with peers, although she tends to quickly default to a follower when older children are involved. Depending on the day and the activity, she can be both a quiet player or a rough-and-tumble child.

Alma has a younger brother, James, who she refers to as Bubbee. He will be turning one this Christmas. We also have a dog (Simon) and a cat (Shanti) with whom Alma views as key members of our family. Her maternal grandparents have recently moved into the area and we see them quite often. “Nana” may pick her up from school occasionally. She has been attending ABC Preschool two half days a week since September of this year. She transitioned well to that environment and seems to really enjoying being with her classmates. We imagine she will miss her teachers and classmates but will transition well to Grace’s new environment. She usually makes friends easily, preferring to play with other girls over boys.

Alma is great at expressing her needs. Once comfortable, she is quite the talker and can get rather loud when excited. However, when faced with an unpleasant surprise or aggressive behavior (i.e. someone taking a toy from her), she loses the words and will just bear down and fight back quietly (i.e. not letting go of the toy). She isn’t aggressive but will certainly stand up for herself. That being said, she is sensitive and cries easily if her feelings are hurt or she is scared. For comfort when very upset, she sucks her thumb and holds her belly button with her other hand. She loves hugs.

At times, she does get stuck in the rut of “this is how things are supposed to be done” which we imagine is part of being a toddler but it is also a strong component of her personality, too. Sometimes it is difficult to transition her on to a new way of doing things and, at times, it can become a battle of wills in our relationship. She is very independent but will ask for help when needed.

Alma is fully potty trained and, with those outside of our extended family, feels very independent about the process. There were some difficulties with toilet training at ABC Preschool because they did not provide child-sized toilets (or any other accommodation) and Alma didn’t feel comfortable on the large seats. This caused her, while using the toilet, to wet her pants. This has now been sorted out, but it was a little hiccup in the toilet training process. Since XYZ has smaller toilets, this shouldn’t be an issue. She does well with scheduled toilet trips to “try” as opposed to simply relying on her to speak up, especially as you develop your relationship with her. She may be shy to tell you she needs to use the toilet until she feels comfortable with you and the environment.

Alma takes a nap every afternoon around 1:30 pm. Since the XYZ school day will end at 12 noon for her, this shouldn’t be an issue. At night she sleeps from 7:30 p.m. – 6:30 a.m. While we encourage her to eat well at meals, she seems to prefer to snack throughout the day. She loves all types of fruit and crackers. She also loves peanut butter but has learned to adapt to almond butter in school environments.

Thank you in advance for your work with our daughter. We love her to bits and hope that she can thrive in the coming years at XYZ Montessori.

Sincerely,
Laura and Joshua Chisholm

Fish Pond

Standing on a neighbor's front "law" with our friend, Jack.

Christmas List

Even though I hate doing this because it seems like "buy us gifts!" I think that sharing a list of gifts that the children could use or would want is practical.

Both kids:
Bath toys
Children's picnic table (no plastic, please)
Helping to defray the costs of lessons; Alma starts ballet lessons in January, James will begin swim lessons in December

Alma:
Swim suit (has to be a two-piece as she needs access to her belly button, which she still holds for comforting) -- size 3T
Ballet gear (tights: "Ballet pink" without seams; leotard: must be a Capezio, short-sleeved pink, style 400C, size 3T)
Dresses and warm tights -- size 3T and up
Board games
Shoes -- size 8.5 and up

James:
Swim towel for his upcoming swim lessons
Shoes -- size 6 and up
Baby books

The general cavots to this list:
* If you are excited about giving a gift that isn't on this list, feel free.  They will love it!
* If you have already purchased something as a gift, don't stress out and return it.  They will love it!
* If you decide not to get a gift this year, that's perfect too.  We will always love you!
* We prefer to not have plastic toys in the house.  So if you can lean towards wooden or natural materials, we would be grateful.

Bath time

Milestone: Seatbelt

For the past month, Alma is able to climb in/out, close the car door and do her top buckle. Independence comes faster than I often expect.

Nature Church